Claire Smith, a graduate of CodeClan’s 16-week software development course, writes about her experiences as a career changer moving into the digital sector.

“After University I was lucky enough to get work in an industry that was relevant to my degree, Japanese Studies. However it didn’t pan out for several reasons. I found myself at a loss as to what to do next, and spent my free time working with a local Food Waste charity. Through this charity’s need to digitise their logistics I became involved in developing an app.
“From there, it was a natural process of wanting to push my skills further so I applied for CodeClan, although this involved some big risks that I had to consider, including money, time commitment and the big question of whether I would be able to get a job after doing the course. But I weighed it up and it seemed worth it.

“CodeClan is a 16-week intensive course covering the basics of web development. One thing I knew from the start was that it would not be a spoon-feeding course where your graduation present is a job. It involves your full commitment and pushing your learning further outside of class hours. However, the support of my instructors and teamwork with classmates kept me motivated through the course.

“Assignments were handed out daily as well as a mini project to cover each weekend. This led on to group projects, which I loved. The course highlighted that a successful project depends not just on technical knowledge but also learning about Agile methodology and the workflow process. But it’s not all work and no play. I was often in the ping pong room or having a game of Werewolf with other students.

“CodeClan organised Employer Sessions, where various companies would come in and give an insight of what it would be like to work for them. And by the end of the course, I had a portfolio covering a range of languages including Ruby, Java and Javascript to aid in getting a job.

“CodeClan put a lot of time into creating opportunities to meet employers, and it was through this that I got a job as a Backend Developer at Signal where I’ve been working for just over a year.

“As a Backend Developer, I work mostly in PHP, a language that was not covered by CodeClan. But the experience of picking up various languages in just 16 weeks taught me the skills needed to get going with PHP. After a year working in the industry, I look back on the risk I took and I’m glad I was in the position to take it.

“One of the major learning curves I’ve had, and will continue to have, is being comfortable not knowing the answer – and having the curiosity to explore and research until I do. I am also lucky that my curiosity is supported and encouraged by my fellow colleagues. Working in a digital agency like Signal offers plenty of exciting challenges which helps keep me motivated to improve my skills.”
For more information about digital careers in Scotland visit digitalworld.net

The Big Bang Near Me programme plays a vital role in inspiring the UK’s future scientists and engineers at a regional, local and school level. We encourage more people to take these subjects, as well as celebrating young people’s achievements in science and engineering through displaying their STEM projects and letting them talk with engineers and scientists, face to face.

The UK needs many more scientists and engineers and equipping young people with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths is key to their future employability. Students attending a Near Me fair really enjoy themselves too – with nine out of ten rating the event they attended as “good” or “very good”.

Zones will include:

Engineering

Construction

Food and Drink

Science and Maths

Career Zone – Companies to provide careers advise in their sector.

15 minute presentation slots available to address small groups of young people.

There will also be a chance to experience a selection of STEM challenges available to schools including the ‘turbo charged’ National Final of the Bloodhound Scotland Rocket Car Challenge and Scottish Big Bang Competition final.

Today the Minister for Further and Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville, led a roundtable discussion with Scotland’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sheila Rowan, about gender inequality in STEM fields.

They were joined at the Scottish Parliament by representatives from across the sector to discuss actions to tackle the issue as part of the ongoing STEM consultation but also to share some of the great examples already in place throughout the country.

Deputy Head Teacher of Woodmill High School, Zoe Thomson, explained how the school is working with Gender Balance Scotland to encourage not just students, but parents and teachers too in tackling stereotyping in subject choice and career pathways.

Deputy Headteacher of Woodmill High School Zoe Thomson

“The first step we took to a cultural shift was to put gender balance onto the remit of a Deputy Head Teacher, this allows gender balance to form part of the whole school improvement planning process. This is important as it enables us to have an overview of the strategic planning in order to involve partners, track progress and interrogate data.

“At Woodmill we have been lucky enough to be part of Shell’s Girls in Energy project. Last session 7 girls from S4-S6 attended Fife College one afternoon a week to look at the work undertaken in the energy industries. The girls took part in industrial visits and met with other students and apprentices, they also earned a National 5 skills for work unit for taking part. The partnership with Shell and Fife College has been crucial in the success of this project providing the students with a taste of “college life” and the opportunity to meet female engineers.

“One of our students from an earlier session has successfully secured an apprenticeship at Leonardo (formerly SELEX). Olivia was supported by members of Equate Scotland during her application and interview process which really helped her confidence and provided additional support we couldn’t offer within school. Another of our former students who took part in an earlier session has gone on to study Civil Engineering at Heriot Watt. Now both girls are role models for our next cohort leading to 14 girls signing up for the 2016/17 session.

“Feedback from the girls has also been incredibly positive:

“This has shown me engineering is not about getting your hands dirty but more about creative problem solving.” – Sarah M S5

Caitlyn S4 – “I am not sure what I want to do but this has given me more options.”

“I have had more confidence to offer answers without the intimidation of boys.”– Millie S4

“As a school we work hard to create links with partners and Skills Development Scotland has helped us arrange talks from female apprentices. We have found this is more powerful when the speaker is close in age to the audience and also targeting a smaller group of girls rather than an entire year group.

“Girls rarely make their subject choice in isolation so our next challenge is to work on the unconscious bias and misinformation in parents and teachers. Pupils really only know about a small range of careers and we are working with our partners in Early years to begin to broaden these horizons from age three to ensure girls have equal access to STEM opportunities and the benefits they can bring.”

Following the announcement that Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville has offered her congratulations. The team won the prize in recognition for their pioneering work in nanotechnology, in particular the design and production of molecular machines. Sir Fraser Stoddart was born and raised in Edinburgh and attended the University of Edinburgh where an annual Stoddart Prize is awarded each year to recognise young researchers.

Ms Somerville said:

“I’m delighted for all the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Their work in connection with the development of molecular machines is truly ground-breaking and could have significant applications to healthcare in the future. Sir Fraser Stoddart retains strong links with the University of Edinburgh and I am sure that his success will energise and encourage students there and across Scotland.”

It’s World Teachers’ Day and Education Secretary John Swinney marked the occasion with a visit to Dalgety Bay Primary School, where he met teachers and pupils and opened the school’s new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) laboratory.

While there he said: “I would like to take the opportunity this World Teachers’ Day to thank our highly skilled and extremely motivated teaching staff throughout Scotland.

“Since taking up post as Education Secretary I have visited schools across the country, meeting with a wide range of teaching professionals and the young people who so clearly value the work they do. These visits have only served to reinforce my view that our teaching workforce provides the bedrock of an education system our country can be proud of.

“I strongly believe that if Scotland is to continue to flourish we need dedicated, passionate, teachers inspiring our young people for generations to come and I hope the rest of the country, young and old, will join me today in showing appreciation for all our teachers, past and present, for the life changing work they do.”

Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville, has congratulated David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz – the team awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics – for their work on strange forms of matter. Two of the winners – David Thouless and Michael Kosterlitz – were born in Scotland.

Ms Somerville said:

“Congratulations to all three winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on states of matter, and I’m particularly pleased that two of the winners were born here in Scotland. I hope their achievements help to inspire our next generation of scientists.”

[Originally posted on stuckwithphysics.co.uk on 31st OCtober 2015] Following on from my post back in May ‘Do Exams Pass Under CfE?‘, I have given the issues of assessment and certification some further consideration, which I discussed in my presentation at this year’s Teachmeet SLF ‘Breakout’ event held at CitizenM, Glasgow back in September. This post […]

What is the longest period of time you can focus your attention without your mind beginning to wander and your concentration plummeting off a cliff? Wikipedia states that the maximum attention span for the average human is 5 minutes. The longest time for healthy teenagers and adults is 20 minutes. However, according to the National […]